Health insurance is an important part of determining a child support obligation in the state of Iowa under the child support guidelines. It is, therefore, essential to determine who will carry the insurance, and how the cost regarding the health insurance will be allocated. You must further understand if the health insurance coverage is a state sponsored plan, such as hawk-I, or a private health insurance plan, to ensure that the proper child support calculation […]

We are very proud to announce we have received notification from Martindale-Hubbell that Shannon Simpson has received the highest possible rating, the 2018 Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent “Judicial Edition” Peer Review RatingTM Shannon Simpson was given an “AV” Preeminent rating from her peers and the Judiciary. This means that she was deemed to have very high professional ethics and preeminent legal ability. Only lawyers with the highest ethical standards and professional ability receive a Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review […]

The drafters of the revised child support guidelines felt it was necessary to more completely define actual child care expenses in the Revised Iowa Child Support Guidelines. They did so in Rule 9.11A. First, the drafters defined what are “child care expenses” by saying that this term means expenses for the children in the pending case that are reasonably necessary for the parent to work, attend school or training activities, or conduct a job search. […]

So what is “income” for child support purposes? The drafters of the revised Iowa Child Support Guidelines have attempted to make sure that the definition of what is considered income is better defined. Rule 9.5 of the Iowa Child Support Guidelines states that gross monthly income is defined as, “reasonably expected income from all sources”. Recently, the Iowa Child Support Guidelines changed to reflect that income now includes traditional or rehabilitative spousal support (alimony) payments […]

Over the next several weeks we will be highlighting the recent changes to the Iowa Child Support Guidelines in our five part blog series – The REVISED Iowa Child Support Guideline – What you should Know!. We will be highlighting such areas as: How “income” is now defined, including what is considered “income” for child support purposes; What are “child care expenses”, how are they defined according to the child support guidelines, […]

In the last several weeks we have learned about the various classifications of property in your divorce—premarital property, gifts and inheritance and marital property. It is important for any person going through a divorce to understand that the courts can view one asset as having more than one classification. For example, a house can be purchased before marriage by one party (premarital) but it had a loan on it when the parties married. During the […]

The Iowa law provides that the property of the marriage will be equitably divided in your divorce. That means that any property you bought, or acquired, during the course of the marriage will most likely be divided in the divorce proceeding. What does “equitable” mean? Equitable division is what would be fair in your particular divorce proceeding, not necessarily equal. For a better understanding of what property will be considered marital property that can be […]

The Iowa law says that gifts and inheritance that a divorcing spouse received before or during the course of the marriage are the separate property of the person who received them and will be treated as his/her separate property. That would mean that they are not part of the “marital assets” that can be divided in the divorce case. There is, however, an exception to this rule that the courts have the ability to […]

A common misconception for most people going through a divorce is that if they owned a piece of property, or asset, before they married their partner that it is theirs. That may, or may not, be the case. The Iowa law states that premarital property “may” be given back to the person who owned it prior to the marriage. The word “may” gives the courts the ability to determine if it will give the property […]

In every divorce proceeding it is important to understand that all property is not the same. The Iowa law and the courts have recognized that there are potentially different types of property. It is important to understand this regarding each piece of property in your divorce case. Property can be categorized as premarital property, gifted or inherited property, or marital property. One piece of property can fall into more than one category. In addition, […]